Western Cape Minister Londt meets with Postbank
On 3 March 2025, I met with management of Postbank to discuss the migration from South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Gold Cards to Postbank Black Cards.
It was a constructive meeting in which I spoke candidly about the myriad issues around this process. The biggest problem has been the lack of Postbank service points in the Western Cape to accommodate the migration process. This is a matter I have been continuously raising since SASSA and Postbank first made the announcement of the deadline for card replacements.
Postbank admitted that it became aware of this issue through constant news reports in the Western Cape.
We are pleased with Postbank’s willingness to engage with us, and we now have a better understanding of the problems they face, the biggest of which is resourcing. Postbank says it has had trouble in retaining staff to work the service points. There have also been challenges around staff being threatened or robbed in certain areas, which resulted in them resigning and leaving those sites inactive.
We made it clear that many of these problems could have been prevented if there had been collaboration between SASSA, Postbank, and other role-players.
The Western Cape’s average of beneficiaries who have managed to migrate to the Postbank Black Cards is just 23% (74 470 cards have been replaced, 248 449 cards have yet to be replaced), while the national average is 30%. While we are encouraged by Postbank’s plan to incrementally increase sites across the province, we are concerned at the pace at which it is doing this.
We have asked that Postbank keeps us informed of the active sites and the schedule of its roving teams that will be going to areas where there are no fixed service points. We will then communicate this on social media along with municipalities for further dissemination.
As I told Postbank, its communication has been ineffective and it will need to step up and improve this significantly. We will assist where we can because our commitment is to the residents, especially the most vulnerable, of this province. Even though SASSA and Postbank are national entities and do not fall under the mandate of the Western Cape Government, we will take hands wherever possible to ensure the correct information gets out to the public to ease anxiety and concerns.
Meanwhile, Postbank said it cannot extend the 20 March 2025 deadline, but that there will be cardless withdrawal options available for beneficiaries who did not receive their Black Cards by that date. Postbank says people can register for the cardless option at its service points until they are able to get their Black Cards:
We do also want to encourage beneficiaries to look at all available options for receiving grant payments, such as having grants paid into their bank accounts. If this option is more feasible, I will advise them to go to their nearest SASSA office to make this change.
We are not the only ones holding Postbank to account. On 4 March 2025, Postbank and SASSA appeared before the Western Cape Provincial Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Development. During this meeting, both entities had to explain their role in the card migration process, including contingency measures in place to ensure beneficiaries still receive their grants after the 20 March 2025 deadline. I want to thank committee members for strengthening our hand in holding these entities accountable.
We want to work with both SASSA and Postbank to ensure no beneficiary is left behind. We will endeavour to work together wherever we can. We will also continue to closely monitor the roll-out of the additional Postbank card replacement sites.
Media Enquiries
Monique Mortlock-Malgas
Media Liaison Officer to Minister Jaco Londt
Department of Social Development